It began, as so many monumental internet trends have, on Reddit. A user visited Ireland’s Crawford Art Gallery, where he cleverly manipulated his smartphone around Greco-Roman statues, many of which just happen to have their arms outstretched in an uncanny gesture of selfie-taking, to look like they are participating in the social media trend. By placing the camera just behind the hands of the figure’s elongated arms, the clever photographer was able to create hilariously realistic looking snapshots, and despite what he described as “strange looks [from] the staff in that art gallery,” he soldiered on, taking four of the pictures.
After the original post, other Redditors chimed in with their contributions. Soon, an entire subreddit, /r/statueselfies, was born. It has already been populated with several posts, and there’s currently a call to action for someone to take one of the Venus de Milo. It looks like this more creative riff on the #MuseumSelfie has taken off. But before you get too concerned, a very wise user already advised participants against touching the art, even if it means forgoing a potential shot. We must agree—if we’ve learned anything, it’s never touch the art. In fact, this may be an instance in which the selfie stick could be put to good use.